This being a Deathmatch map, the level consists
of a main atrium with a few rooms branching
off. The architecture is for the most part
very well done, with some nice angled structures.
Good texturing all round, although I'm not
sure that the cyan textures match the rest
of the (mostly iD dark blue) map, and a
nice, contrasting skybox.
You start off in the atrium, surrounded
by ammo, so tanking up right here you get
the SSG and the SNG. True to its deathmatch
origins, there's no NG. Ammo feels plentiful,
yet suprisingly well measured - I exited
with 20 rockets and 3 shells, and you get
better weapons as you progress, up to and
including the lightning gun. The weapons
are well-spaced around the map, and you
get a new one at just about the right time.
Health, however, is not no easy to come
by. I came close to dying a few times, my
health dropping to 5 or so, then staying
at 30 for a few minutes until I opened up
a new area.
All the runic monsters are present and
correct, well organized so that they get
tougher as you progress, starting out with
ogres and ending with a three-shambler finale.
However, monster placement isn't brilliant
- for the most part I was able to find a
nearby pillar to hide behind whilst picking
off ye olde shalraths with the RL, and shambler
placement is appalling - I don't think I
was hit by a single lightnning bolt. In
general all the monsters in the atrium appear
far too far away to be a threat, which makes
annihilating them disgustingly easy, for
the most part. In the side-rooms, there's
more interesting combat, but still not challenging
in most areas.
The big problem with this map is that there's
no feeling of progression, because you have
access to nearly the entire level at the
start - it's obviously a DM map that's been
converted to single-player. Although this
would make quite a fantastic end-piece to
a map, on its own it's not brilliant - it's
just a blast-fest, with no real feeliing
of immersion in the game. If you want some
target practice against medieval foes, download
it, otherwise, don't bother.
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